My main concern with Joss Whedon directing anything is my constant fear that he'll randomly, cruelly kill people off for no good reason. (At least, in the Marvel movies, we're relatively safe from that.

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Or so we thought.

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Yeah, well, he had a target on his back because he was the only one without any real spin-off potential. The rest just kinda can't be stopped. (Although, I momentarily wondered about Iron Man simply because there's always the possibility that they could kill him off just because RDJ is tired of the role.)

But, honestly, Whedon might not be my first pick of the Marvel movie directors anyway. I sometimes suspect Jon Favreau would do a better job of getting the tone right. And I'd be very OK with Kenneth Branagh, probably. Thor was my favorite of all the Marvel movies (including The Avengers) and I thought Branagh brought more visual stylishness than any of the other directors. But I suspect Branagh would need a really strong script to be able to bring that same kind of quality. Thor had a very solid bedrock of emotional resonance. Without that, I suspect Branagh would have lost interest very quickly.

Whatever you do, keep Ridley Scott the hell away from it! I can't stand Prometheus or Blade Runner. Alien was OK but I attribute that mostly to the casting. (Yaphet Kotto is auto-win!) Kingdom of Heaven made no sense. Legend was shite. He completely derailed The Hot Zone & I Am Legend with his nonsensical art director brain. Honestly, the only movies of his I really liked were Gladiator & Robin Hood. Black Hawk Down was decent, I suppose. But overall, keep this madman away from it.

My main concern with Joss Whedon directing anything is my constant fear that he'll randomly, cruelly kill people off for no good reason. (At least, in the Marvel movies, we're relatively safe from that.

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Or so we thought.

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Yeah, well, he had a target on his back because he was the only one without any real spin-off potential.

Whedon the third film when he has wrapped up with current commitment to the Marvel-verse and he can feel free to cut loose with the dramatic deaths of much-loved characters.

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No. Even when it has some narrative justification, it still feels like he's mostly doing it just to screw with us. I mean, he can't even do a musical comedy without twisting the knife for his own sick amusement! (Although, I'll admit that most of the Buffy/Angel deaths were pretty well handled. But I'll never forgive him for Wash.)

I suspect Lucas will have a some role in the editing of these new movies. He did not personally direct ESB or ROTJ but supervised the editing on both. Thats always been his favorite part of filmmaking.

As I mentioned in the main thread, one name for who might direct Episode VII is Gary Ross: he directed the nostalgic Pleasantville, worked with Kathleen Kennedy on Seabiscuit and most recently made The Hunger Games. Whether or not he's right for the job is another matter, but I'd say he's in the right place to get the job.

What I'm looking for out of the director is someone who can match the tone of the original trilogy. I want this to be a return to glory for the franchise. I want it to be fun adventure, I want there to be warmth in the acting, I want it to switch effortlessly between genuinely funny dialogue and mythic seriousness. I don't want SW to change to fit the director. I just don't see those qualities in the movies, of, say Christopher Nolan even though I love his movies. Movies that jump out at me as the right kind of tone... Out of the names bandied about and the movies that give me the right feeling of tone, I like Matthew Vaughan (x-men first class), joss whedon (Serenity, a movie which actually kind of reminds me of OT SW, Avengers), Brad Bird (iron giant, incredibles). I also like Speilberg and Darabont as more general choices. The other option is to go with someone who could capture the exotic Cantina-esque feel of the alien part of SW, in which case my main choice is Del Toro.

What I'm looking for out of the director is someone who can match the tone of the original trilogy. I want this to be a return to glory for the franchise. I want it to be fun adventure, I want there to be warmth in the acting, I want it to switch effortlessly between genuinely funny dialogue and mythic seriousness. I don't want SW to change to fit the director.

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Exactly. Tim Burton, Chris Nolan, David Fincher (and his bloody teal tint)--all these would be poor choices. You want someone like Irvin Kershner who has a sensitive, fun and intelligent style without intruding into the look of the film.

My concern with Spielberg is that his DP, Janusz Kaminski, would make it look too clinical.

I sometimes suspect Jon Favreau would do a better job of getting the tone right.

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You know that's an interesting one because Iron Man was a pretty boring movie, but that doesn't necessarily mean Favreau would bore me with a Star Wars movie. The direction is at least competent and even if the action is insipid and forgettable it shows knowledge of how to shoot a CGI action sequence, so I dunno... I think Favreau would really depend on the script (and the cast, as RDJ elevates his film quite a bit).

He's also plausible in the sense that he's someone who has been part of the recent wave of successful Marvelverse films, but he's not attached to any of their current projects. Joss Whedon is simply just not going to happen because of the amount of pies his thumb is in over at Marvel, but since Favreau is out of the Iron Man game...

Hell, someone like RDJ or someone like him playing a Not-At-All-Han-Solo snarky guy is something a Star Wars movie could use.

3. His problem is scriptwriting, not story writing or directing, so I say let him finish the story, have someone else write he scripts and let GL get on with what he actually does fairly well.

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George Lucas is writing the treatments that will be the basis of these three movies. So in that sense he's 'finishing the story.' Given that he didn't direct two of the OT films, that's a good level of involvement in my opinion. Of course there are those who feel even that is too much.

Whedon the third film when he has wrapped up with current commitment to the Marvel-verse and he can feel free to cut loose with the dramatic deaths of much-loved characters.

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No. Even when it has some narrative justification, it still feels like he's mostly doing it just to screw with us. I mean, he can't even do a musical comedy without twisting the knife for his own sick amusement! (Although, I'll admit that most of the Buffy/Angel deaths were pretty well handled. But I'll never forgive him for Wash.)